Control (PB version)

Catalyst (Control #2)

Among the Shadows: 13 Stories of Darkness & Light

Friday, February 25, 2011

N00b? PWN3d? Forget English, try 1337.

I keep seeing this cryptic speak insinuating itself into our language and did a little investigating.Have you heard of Leet? (1337 or l33t, in leet-speak)

Leet, which originally derived from "elite" is an alternative alphabet for the English language that came about from 1980's computer hacking and online gaming.

One of the hallmarks of leet is the substitution of letters or numbers for similar looking ones in the standard alphabet.Misspellings are commonly part of leet as well (the=teh)Some of the more commonly known leet words that have come into everyday usage include:w00t ("we owned the other team", one among many possible origins)n00b ("newbie", not in a good way.) Addendum: see Erinn's comment below.pwn3d (or "owned", as in, getting defeated badly in an argument or game)

Can you imagine writing a novel in leet?No? Me neither. But the language is pretty fascinating. I could imagine how it could find its way into a cyberpunk novel. It probably has, and one of you is going to tell me about it.

This might come in handy, if you feel the need to email someone and make them think they're having a neurological accident:

No, Noob doesn't mean newbie, it mean asshole. It means someone who is coming into a situation and thinks they know everything about it. Someone who hasn't learned the rules that govern the social group. Or they have learned the rules but they don't care.

I could make out a few of those words...essentially that post pwn3d my brain this morning. I had no idea it was called Leet or that it was an official language. I just figured the few times I had seen it, it was just urban slang. But an entire alphabet...no idea. You always keep me well schooled m'dear and for that I <3 youHave a wonderful, wonderful weekend!

Linda Kage--the term 'frag' as in kill comes from soldiers murdering unpopular officers with fragmentation grenades. I know the term was used in the Vietnam War. Not sure if it was used before that, though.

Wow, is this still news to people? Among the college kids, l337 was in its heyday in like eight years ago. Even a lot of text slang seems to be dying out as features like autocorrect make it quicker and easier to write grammatical texts.

While l337 itself is not so hip anymore, the idea of a technology spawing its own peculiar language is a great idea for SF writers to explore.

I have a friend who would be offended that someone in the comments would put 1337 after texting. But for the most part, I don't think the greater majority of the populace knows or cares enough for it to truly effect we writerly types.

I was getting worried about you there for a second when I saw the picture! LOL! I have heard of this actually. I haven't seen it in a novel or heard it mentioned in one but I imagine there are a few out there.

I've known about l33t for a while, but it makes my head hurt. So I've avoided it when possible. You have some SKILLS to be able to write so much of this post in l33t!

On the other hand, I do use w00t and pwned a lot. I can thank Alz for that. Randomly, w00t was like Merriam-Webster's Word of the Year for 2007. I remember because it was inducted into the online version of the dictionary, and I was telling my roommate what it meant ("we owned the other team). She thought it was hilarious because she imagined "team" like a sports team.

I think we are watching our language morph in front of our eyes. With our longer life spans and the rapidly changing technology it is not surprising that spellings and language should change more rapidly also.

Medical Disclaimer

IN NO WAY SHOULD THE CONTENTS OF LYDIAKANG.BLOGSPOT.COM BE CONSIDERED MEDICAL ADVICE. ALL CONTENT ON THE SITE IS GENERAL IN NATURE, AND PROVIDED FOR FICTIONAL SCENARIOS ONLY. NEVER DISREGARD MEDICAL ADVICE OR DELAY IN SEEKING IT BECAUSE OF SOMETHING YOU HAVE READ OR MAYBE MIS-INTERPRETED ON THIS WEBSITE, OR ANY LINKS RELATED TO IT.

The materials provided on this site are for informational purposes and are not intended for use as diagnosis or treatment of a health problem or as a substitute for consulting a licensed medical professional.

Check with a physician if you suspect you are ill, or believe you may have one of the problems discussed on this website, as many problems and disease states may be serious and even life-threatening.

Also note that medical information changes rapidly. Therefore, some information may be out of date, inaccurate, or erroneous. Neither this blog/website or it author(s) will be responsible for the results or consequences of any attempt to use or adopt any of the information presented on this website.